The Islamic world is discussed from both Islamic and Western perspectives by Akbar Ahmed ("Islam Today") and Bernard Lewis ("What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East").

An 1857 incident in which some 120 people traveling from Arkansas to California were killed by a Mormon militia in Southern Utah is discussed by historians Ronald Walker, Richard Turley Jr. and Glen Leonard, coauthors of "Massacre at Mountain Meadows."

Patrick Buchanan discusses "Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War," in which he contends that World Wars I and II could have been avoided if not for the mistakes of British leaders, including Winston Churchill.

The early history of Washington, D.C. (including its design and unpopularity) is discussed by Florida International University's Les Standiford ("Washington Burning"). Also: Standiford visits the Arlington Cemetery tomb of architect-urban planner Pierre Charles L'Enfant (1754-1825), the Society of the Cincinnati Library and the "original" Washington Monument.

Historian Simon Winchester ("The Man Who Loved China") discusses the life of Joseph Needham (1900-95), a British biochemist who wrote extensively about China. Host: John Major of the China Institute at the Asia Society in New York City.

"Rutka's Notebook," a diary kept by 14-year-old Rutka Laskier, a Jewish girl in Poland, is discussed by her half-sister, Zahava Sherz. The journal covers the first four months of 1943; she died at Auschwitz later that year.

Hoover Institution research fellow Paul Gregory discusses "Lenin's Brain and Other Tales From the Secret Soviet Archives," about items uncovered in the USSR's archives. Included: a study conducted on Lenin's brain; the criminal-justice system under Stalin; the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.